Her Sister's Secret Life

The house sat on a low bluff above the water with wooden steps leading down to the beach. On a clear day, he could see all way to Whidbey Island.

Letting the dogs outside, he joined Jordan at the rail. The deck hugged the back and one end of the house, so that part of it was shaded in the afternoon and the rest remained in the sun.

“See those dark things in the water?” Steve asked, pointing. “They’re probably a pod of killer whales.”

Jordan stared with his face scrunched up as the breeze off the water ruffled his thick hair. “Oh, yeah. I’ve seen pictures.”

“So, what’s on your mind?” Steve finally asked when the silence had lengthened between them.

Jordan looked up at him through eyes that stirred up long-buried memories of his mother. “One of the other kids told me that you’re my dad,” he said. “Is it true?”

Although he’d known the question was coming, Steve had no idea how to respond. “And what does your mom say?” he asked, stalling in case inspiration decided to visit him.

Jordan turned to stare out at the water. “All she’s ever said was that you—uh, he, couldn’t be with us. I figured she meant my dad was dead, like my friend’s father who was a marine. I didn’t want to make her feel sad, so I never asked anything more.”

Silently Steve digested the information. No wonder Jordan had been willing to spend his money for a taxi to come all the way out here and confront him. The kid was filled with curiosity and he had no one to talk to about it. What the hell was Lily thinking? Even if the donor had been a one-night stand, she owed the kid some kind of explanation.

Steve rested his hand on one thin shoulder. “Tell you what,” he said, hoping he was doing the right thing, “I’m going to take you home now, because your mom is the one who really needs to explain everything to you.”

This mess was Lily’s problem, but from what Steve could tell, she must have done a decent job of raising the boy. Somewhere along the way, she must have acquired the necessary parental instincts to handle difficult subjects like this. He, on the other hand, was clueless.

“She’s going to be pissed at me,” Jordan protested as Steve herded him back inside.

Steve let the word slide. “I think she’ll understand.” As he grabbed the keys to his pickup from a bowl by the front door, he tried to sound reassuring. “Besides, you’re old enough to know the truth.”

Lily hurried through the back door into Mayfield Manor, looking for someone to tell her exciting news to. After a week of fruitless searching, she’d met Wade and their real estate agent at a small house that had just recently been rezoned for commercial use. The one-story structure sat on a large corner lot near the courthouse in an older, well-maintained section of town. With some remodeling, it would be perfect for their offices: her CPA business and his investment firm.

As soon as Lily entered the large, updated kitchen in the old Victorian where she’d grown up, she became aware of the silence. Pauline was still at the shop, but Jordan should be here with Dolly, the boarder.

Frowning, Lily glanced at the small blackboard above the counter where messages had been left for as long as she could remember. Sure enough, something was written there in Dolly’s spidery handwriting.

Jordan gone to library. Dolly taking nap.

Hands on her hips, Lily blew a lock of hair out of her eyes. She wished Dolly had indicated when he’d left.

Lily glanced at the clock above the stove, tempted to call Pauline. On Saturday afternoon the historic downtown shops and galleries would be full of tourists, so her news would have to wait. Meanwhile, Lily could start a list of all the things that would need to be done to the property if the seller accepted their offer.

At least financing her share wasn’t one of them. Francis had provided generously for her and Jordan in his will. She blessed the day she’d met him at an open audition right after she first arrived in L.A.

She divided the sheet of paper into columns: Exterior, Interior, Furniture and Equipment, she wrote across the top. They would need to order a sign, too. Maybe a native craftsman could carve one out of cedar, with classy gold lettering.

She hardly noticed the sound of an approaching truck until it slowed in front of the house. Glancing distractedly through the bay window, she expected Wade. What she saw instead made her leap to her feet as the notepad slid to the floor and the pen fell from her suddenly nerveless fingers.

Steve Lindstrom had parked his white pickup in the driveway. At first she assumed that he was looking for Wade, but as she watched from behind the swagged satin drapery, the passenger door opened and her son climbed out. Steve must have given him a ride home from the library.

Jordan started to dash across the front yard, only to skid to a halt when Steve called out to him. Lily was torn between staring at the tall, muscular man striding toward the front door and dashing to the gilt-framed wall mirror to check on her own appearance. Before she could decide, Jordan reached the porch.

Lily’s feet refused to move. As she smoothed down her khaki skirt where it tended to wrinkle around her hips, the front door burst open. Her heart thumped with expectation as Jordan walked in, followed by the man she hadn’t faced for thirteen years. The man she had loved with all her heart, even when she had walked out of his life without saying goodbye.

“Hello, Lily.”

His voice was deeper than she remembered, and his smooth young face had matured and weathered into one that would turn any female’s head. His sun-streaked hair was longer than she remembered as it fell across his forehead and brushed his collar. His intense blue eyes were more guarded. Below a mustache that added a rakish touch to his appearance, his mouth was curved into a smile that held neither warmth nor humor.

For the first time in her life, Lily forgot about her son until the sound of his voice reminded her of his presence.

“Steve brought me home,” he said unnecessarily. There was a touch of belligerence in his tone that surprised her.

“I can see that,” she replied, her gaze still on the man who seemed to fill the foyer with his presence. “It’s been a long time.”

His only response was to nod in agreement.

He had bulked up, she realized. His shoulders and arms looked even more powerful than during his days on the football team. If he experienced the slightest reaction to seeing her again, his expression hid it well. She, on the other hand, felt as though she might fly apart as emotions she’d thought long dead sizzled through her, threatening to choke off her air.

“It was nice of you to give my son a ride.” She was grateful that her voice was rock steady as she glanced from one male to the other. “Didn’t you find any books that you liked?” she asked when she finally noticed Jordan’s empty arms. Usually he would check out anything he could find on dinosaurs or astronomy.

Sensing that her hands were shaking, she tucked them into her skirt pockets. To her surprise, Steve touched Jordan’s shoulder in an obvious gesture of encouragement.

“I didn’t run into Jordan at the library. He showed up at my house.”

Lily couldn’t have been more surprised if Steve had said they had run into each other at a quilting bee. “You hitched?” she demanded, horrified that he would break one of her biggest rules.

Jordan shook his head. “I took a taxi.”

She didn’t have to ask why. “And what did you tell him?” she demanded of Steve, hoping he hadn’t been too callous. It wasn’t as though he owed her the slightest atom of consideration, but Jordan was an innocent victim in this mess. One who had deserved to hear the truth from his mother a long time ago.

“He wouldn’t tell me anything,” Jordan replied before Steve could. “He said to ask you.” His voice was accusing, as though he was fed up with being jerked around.

Lily’s cheeks flamed with embarrassment. She had no one to blame but herself that this awkward conversation wasn’t taking place in private. Before she could tell Steve how sorry she was that he had been drawn into it, he ruffled Jordan’s hair.

“I’ll see you, kid,” Steve said. “Obviously you two have a lot to discuss, so I’d better go.”

“Thanks for the sandwich,” Jordan replied. “Your house is really cool, and so are your dogs.”

The wistful note in her son’s voice sent fresh guilt surging through Lily. All of this was her fault.

“Yes, thank you,” she echoed as Steve walked out the front door. “It was, um, good to see you again.”

He glanced back at her, one golden brow arched mockingly. “Right. You, too.” His tone was dry. “Talk to your son,” he added with a last glance at Jordan. “Take care.”

“’Bye,” Jordan replied.

Refusing to stare at Steve’s retreating form, Lily shut the front door firmly while her mind spun in search of inspiration.

“Was that Steve?” Dolly asked from the landing at the top of the stairs. “He’s such a nice young man, isn’t he? A real hunk.”

Dolly hadn’t been living in Crescent Cove when Lily left, but no doubt she’d heard the story of Pauline’s broken engagement to Carter Black more than a decade ago, and the part Lily had played.

“He gave Jordan a ride,” she said. “How was your nap?” She was tempted to use Dolly’s appearance as an excuse to postpone the conversation she needed to have with her son, but she refused to take the coward’s way out.

“I feel like a new woman,” Dolly replied as she descended the stairs slowly with one gnarled hand on the carved wood banister. “I think I’ll have a cup of tea and sit in the garden. Would either of you care to join me?”

“No, thanks,” Jordan replied politely.

“Me, neither,” Lily said. “There’s something that my son and I need to discuss, so if you’ll excuse us…” Her voice trailed off as she realized there was no going back now. After she answered Jordan’s question about his paternity, she would need to talk to Pauline, as well. Lily could only hope that their recent reconciliation would be strong enough to handle the truth.

“We’ll be in my room if you need anything,” she added.

“Go ahead and have your chat.” Dolly gave them a smile and a dismissing wave. “I’ve got a new mystery that I’m eager to read.”

Steve drove straight from seeing Lily to his favorite watering hole down by the docks. The Crab Pot was a tavern with a big-screen TV, a couple of pool tables, decent food and a postage-size dance floor. This afternoon, the only thing that interested him was the cold beer on tap and the chance to sort out his reactions in familiar surroundings.

He pulled into the gravel parking lot, bouncing across the potholes, and parked near the worn steps leading past a row of weathered wood pilings to the peeling front door. Colorful neon beer signs lit up the window with a fishing net hanging across the top. He barely noticed any of it as he went inside.

He was greeted with the odors of deep-fried seafood and yeasty beer, the buzz of voices from the bar, music from the jukebox and the occasional snick of pool balls colliding with one another on a nearby table. Riley, the oversize member of the local Suquamish tribe who served as a bouncer, sat at the bar where he was deep in conversation with one of the waitresses.

Pausing in the doorway, Steve noticed Wade seated alone at a table. He glanced up from his newspaper and waved Steve over.

“Need a menu, honey?” asked the waitress, whose helmet of red hair was as familiar to Steve as the moose head mounted over the bar.

“No, thanks, Char,” he replied. “Just bring us a fresh pitcher and another glass.”

“What are you doing here in the middle of the day?” Wade asked as he put aside the paper. On the table sat a plastic basket holding a couple of lonely fries and an empty tartar sauce container.

Steve pulled out the chair opposite him and sat down. “I got thirsty. What’s your story?”

Wade shrugged. “Pauline’s at the shop and I found a new office, so I’m celebrating.”

“Good for you. Where’s it at?” Glad for the distraction, Steve listened carefully while Wade described the old house and his plans to renovate it. “Call me if you need any help,” Steve offered when Wade had finally run down.

“Thanks,” Wade replied. “What’s new with you?”

Steve slouched down in the chair and stretched out his legs to the side. “Guess who showed up on my doorstep a while ago?”

Wade’s forehead pleated into a puzzled frown. “I dunno. Who?”

Steve hesitated while Char brought over a pitcher of pale amber liquid. After filling his glass and topping off Wade’s, she collected the lunch trash.

“Anything else I can bring you all right now?” She worked her gum, one hand parked on her hip. A pencil was stuck through the swirl of hair above her ear and a plastic name tag was pinned to the front of her red-and-black uniform shirt. “The mussel stew is real good today.”

“No, thanks,” Steve replied. If he tried to eat with his stomach churning like a concrete mixer, he would probably regret it.

“You were about to reveal the identity of your visitor,” Wade prompted as soon as Char sauntered off with her tray tucked under one arm. “I hope it wasn’t a process server slapping you with a lawsuit.”

“Nothing like that,” Steve replied after he’d wet his throat. “I’d almost prefer that it had been.”

Wade’s eyes widened. “Lily came to see you?” he guessed.

“Close enough.” Steve wiped the foam from his mustache with a paper napkin. “Her son.”

Wade muttered an expletive. “What did he want?”

“What do you think?” Wade didn’t interrupt as Steve described the visit, right down to seeing Lily when he took Jordan home.

“She must have been as sweet as cotton candy back in high school,” Wade commented with a shake of his head. “I’ll deny it if you quote me, but she’s sure as hell strike-me-blind gorgeous now.”

“I suppose.” Steve concentrated on making a row of wet rings on the tabletop with his glass. “Yeah, she was the prettiest girl in school, but she was really nice, too, you know? Not at all stuck-up, even though her folks treated her like a future Miss Universe.”

“That’s pretty much what Pauline told me,” Wade replied. “That she was the brain and Lily the princess.”

The girls’ parents had been killed in a boating accident while Pauline was in college and Lily was a high-school student. Damn, but Steve didn’t feel like discussing ancient history.

He drained his glass. “I was hoping Lily had changed, gotten hard-looking, I guess.” He gave Wade a rueful grin. “With a couple of missing teeth, thinning hair, maybe a scar or a couple hundred pounds of added weight, you know?”

Wade laughed. “Didn’t happen, man. She’s hot.”

“Yeah,” Steve agreed reluctantly. If she had been the least bit affected by the sight of him, she’d hidden it well.

“Big reunion?” Wade teased after he’d swallowed some of his beer. “Hugs and kisses all around?”

“Yeah, right.” Steve rolled his eyes as the tension binding his chest like steel bands began to ease up. “More like ‘cool as you please and what have you been doing with my kid?’”

“Her kid?” Wade echoed, expression questioning. “Are you so sure that’s all?”

For a moment, Steve was silent as regret, relief and a decades’ old feeling of loss twisted together inside him like razor wire. “Positive,” he said finally.

Wade’s eyebrows spiked. Doubt flashed across his face, followed immediately by dawning understanding. “You never slept together.”

Steve pointed his finger like a cocked pistol. “Give the man a prize.” At this rate, he would have no secrets left.

“If he’s not your son, then whose is he?” Wade asked, leaning across the table.

“Damned if I know,” Steve admitted past the sudden tightness gripping his throat. “Some guy she met down south, I guess, but she didn’t tell me.”

“That’s not what everyone in town seems to have concluded,” Wade said after Char had checked on them and left again. “You’ve got to admit the evidence is pretty compelling.”

Steve snorted. “What, that he’s got my coloring? Big deal.”

“There’s more to the argument than that.” Wade shrugged. “Jordan’s not deaf, obviously. So what did you tell him?”

“What could I say? I said for him to ask his mother.” Steve poured another beer. He could always ask Wade to drive him home later.

“I’d like to be a fly on the wall during that conversation,” Wade muttered as he raised his glass. “Here’s to negative paternity test results.”

If you only knew, Steve thought, touching his schooner to Wade’s. “And to moving on.”

Lily paced restlessly back and forth in her bedroom as she waited for Pauline to get home from work. Finding out that a cool guy—in her son’s opinion—wasn’t his father after all was going to be disappointing for a boy with a blooming case of hero worship.

She wanted to blame Wade for starting it, but she knew that wouldn’t be fair. The wheels had been set into motion long before he’d decided to meddle. She should have talked to Jordan before they came back to Crescent Cove, but she hadn’t wanted to add to his anger and grief. Nor had she realized how much gossip there would be—hadn’t wanted to think their arrival would be such a reminder of her reason for fleeing in the first place.

As though it were yesterday, Lily could picture the shock on her sister’s face when she walked into the library at the manor during the graduation party she’d thrown for Lily and seen Carter trying to kiss her. Pauline’s fiancé and her sister. The betrayal had to hurt even more after Pauline had quit college to come home after their parents’ accident so that Lily could finish high school here instead of being shipped off to some aunt she barely knew.

Lily knew now that Pauline had figured out that Carter had kissed her against her will. After Pauline had thrown her engagement ring in his face and the story got around, Lily had taken the coward’s way out. At the time, she had truly believed it would spare both Pauline and Steve any more pain.

Seeing Lily again a few weeks ago had obviously reopened old wounds for Pauline, but because of her generosity and willingness to put the past behind them, she and Lily had found the way back to each other. Being close again was a dream come true for Lily.

Now she sat down on the edge of her bed with her hands covering her face. She hated the idea of bringing Pauline fresh pain, but she had no choice. It was time for the truth to come out. The whole truth.

If she was going to finally level with Jordan, she would also have to rip out her sister’s heart.

Chapter Four

When Lily heard Pauline’s SUV in the driveway, followed by the sounds of the back door opening and shutting, she stopped pacing restlessly in her bedroom. Heart thudding, Lily prayed silently for words that would minimize the fresh pain she was about to inflict on her sister.

No excuses, Lily reminded herself as she went downstairs. No more secrets. She had known this day would come, this conversation, and there was no one to blame for the reasons behind it except herself.

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